Note: The following letter has been sent to Saucon Valley School District leadership including interim high school principal Ken Napaver and school district superintendent Dr. Monica McHale-Small. It is in response to the announcement of principal Eric Kahler’s resignation at Tuesday’s school board meeting; an announcement that followed his absence without notification during the first two weeks of the school year. An article published Wednesday by Lehigh Valley Live detailed some of the terms of Kahler’s resignation agreement, but shed no light on why he left. Kahler has not responded to requests for comment and school board members have said they’re bound by legal requirements not to release any information. Co-author of this letter, student Meagan Lipka, said in a tweet Thursday that “basically, how/if they reply will determine whether a sit-in happens.” A poll on Lipka’s Twitter page (@coolmeagan) had received about 150 votes from students as of Friday morning, with 86 percent saying they favor a sit-in. Lipka also posted a screenshot of an email from McHale-Small Friday morning in which she states she will reach out to Kahler to find out if it’s OK if his address is shared with students, so they can write to him. In part, McHale-Small wrote, “I shared what I could when I could. I know this does not satisfy your need or the needs of many others to know more specifically the reasons behind his departure. I am sorry for that. As I have said I have been limited in what and when I have been able to share due to privacy issues and confidentiality.” She added that, “in no way did the school board neglect it’s duties to the students or to the district” and that “sometimes life gives us difficult situations to deal with, but we can always learn much from these times.”
To the wonderful Mr. Napaver, Dr. McHale-Small and the honorable Saucon Valley School Administration:
A teacher here at Saucon once told me, “Students at this school have a stronger voice than anyone on the school board, and I would like to see you use it.” I believe now is a more relevant time than ever to use that voice. Mr. Eric Kahler was probably one of the most respected principals my family and I have ever encountered, and his influence on the school as a whole is one that will never leave us. To the students, he was more than an authority figure. He was more than a suit and tie. He knew our names, he knew our stories and he knew when we needed to come together as a school. He cooked us burgers before the home games. He dressed up as a Southern Lehigh Spartan during the pep rallies, and I know he didn’t do that to show off his legs in a skirt. He did so because he cared about us, each and every one. When one walk across the stage is our final moment in this school, and Mr. Kahler is waiting at the other end with a prideful smile and a final “You made it,” he does so with the knowledge buried in every fiber in his body that we were all made to do great things, and that we will live to our potential. He was the man who believed in us. Now, in the light of the school board’s neglect, it is time for us to use our voice. We, the student body, are writing to whom it may concern. We demand to know what happened to our principal and our friend. In the sense of personal privacy, we understand we cannot be given all information, and we would never ask that of Mr. Kahler. However, the student body found out of his resignation through a Twitter post from a Saucon Source editor. We were kept in the dark for his entire leave of absence, and his resignation is being treated the same way. We never even got to say goodbye. We stand before you asking for answers. We stand before you, asking why. Mr. Kahler was a part of our SV family, a family that has now lost all meaning without your honest communication. We trust that you will respond to our voice with the communication that we as a community have deserved since day one.
